Modi on an overdrive to woo Dalits in Gujarat

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It appears Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has gained a headstart over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari in trying to woo the Dalits.
Modi, who had maintained a strictly caste- neutral image, has of late been singing praises of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.

It appears Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has gained a headstart over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari in trying to woo the Dalits.

Modi, who had maintained a strictly caste- neutral image, has of late been singing praises of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.

And if Gadkari made it a point to visit Mhow, the birthplace of Ambedkar, only during the party's national executive meet at Indore in February, Modi had cast his net much earlier.

On the Republic Day's eve, Modi took out a gigantic rally in the Dalit- dominated Surendranagar town of Saurashtra. A decked- up elephant carrying an oversize model of the Constitution was taken in procession as part of the rally, a salute to Ambedkar.

Then again on April 14-Ambedkar's birth anniversary-the Gujarat government released full- page advertisements in the state's vernacular dailies. These newspapers also carried a piece by Modi taken from his to- be- released book on social equality.

Even the invitation to Modi's book release event-scheduled for Monday-carries a photograph of Ambedkar besides that of the chief minister himself.

Modi has also published a link to his article on his blog, which, too, was started on April 14 last.

The first post on the blog is about Ambedkar and carries a photograph of the Dalit icon. "Today is (April 14), the 118th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. I pay my humble tribute to this great personality who was born in the underprivileged section of the society and overcame the difficulties and challenges he faced. His mantra was: 'Educate yourself, come together and stand for your rights,'" the post reads.

While it remains to be seen how effective such overtures will be, there are rumours in the BJP state unit that they are the result of Modi's aspirations to stake claim at the Centre as the next OBC leader of the party. Modi belongs to an OBC community in north Gujarat called Ghanchi.

A senior member of the Gujarat BJP said: "He has maintained a caste-neutral image at the state and national levels. However, to stake claim at the Centre, he will need an edge over the others. And what could be better for it than acceptability among the scheduled castes? As it is, the party has not been the first choice of scheduled castes."

Not everyone in the party agrees, though. "Such a paradigm shift may not go down well with the core constituents of the party, comprised mostly of upper caste people," a BJP functionary said.

But if there are doubts about Modi's moves within the BJP, the Dalits have their man marked.

"He (Modi) may now be warming up to Dr. Ambedkar for political ends, but nothing significant has been done to change the lot of the Dalits in Gujarat in the past 10 years," said Jitendra Makwana, a Dalit youth from Ahmedabad.

"The BJP has been writing us off as it knows the Dalits will never vote for the party. Some BJP workers even told us they won't take Dalit votes," he added.

Manjula Pradeep, a Dalit rights worker, said: "Such gestures from Modi stem purely from a political agenda." "He is hoping to erase the blemish of the communal riots in 2002 with such gimmicks," she said and added that if Modi was serious about Ambedkar and his philosophy, he should ensure the Dalits' right to enter temples across the state.

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